Category Archives: Methods

Fix the cause of common mistakes.
For this method you will need a selection of pieces and a notepad.
Play through your music and each time you make a mistake stop and mark the music. Once you have finished one piece go onto the next. Try to pick a few pieces in different styles.
For each place you ...

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Are we all blind, unfeeling and without emotion?
Of course not!
Why then do a lot of musicians only use their hearing sense when practising? ...

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.
Having a good range of dynamics can make your performances much more interesting for the listener. There's nothing duller than listening to music ...

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.
Does it take you a long time to learn a new scale or pattern of notes? Use this method and you will know ...

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The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) argues that 80% of the rewards come from 20% of the efforts.
Think about this for a moment in terms of your music practice. This means that 80% of your time ...

Don't you just hate waiting for things?
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No matter how organised you are you'll find yourself waiting for things most days.
Waiting for the bus.
Waiting for your tea.
Waiting for school to start.
Waiting for your favourite programme to come on TV.
Waiting for the kettle to boil.
Waiting for other people.
Waiting in a queue.
Waiting for the phone to ring.
Yup, there's ...

It's often difficult to find new ways of playing a piece, especially if it's a very well known piece of music.
Consider this well known piece of Piano music by Mozart:
This has been played milllions of times by pianists all over the world. How then do you take this, or any other piece of music, and ...

Once you have learned the notes to a piece it's time to make music and to express your own musicality.
Consider the 3 drawings below:
Each of these is a note. How do you think each note will sound?
Here is another shape:
What do you think this music might sound like?
This shape has yet more differences. Try to ...

You learn far more when you listen than you do when you talk.
Effective listening is a core requirement for better practice. This method will help you develop your listening skills.
Firstly choose three contrasting pieces of music. In order to get the most benefit from this method try to choose music that you would not normally ...

Just as there is no single correct way to play a piece, there is also no one right way to practice.
You need options.
If your usual practice methods don't seem to be giving the results you want, try looking at your music from different perspectives.
Pick several of the options below and practice your music in that ...